2003
2003 was designated the: * International Year of fresh water. * European Disability Year. Events January * January 22 – The last signal from NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft is received, some 7.6 billion miles from Earth. * January 30 – Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage, becoming the second country in the world to do so. February * February 1 – At the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the [[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry]] over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts on board. * February 4 – The leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia reconstitute the country into a loose state-union between Montenegro and Serbia, marking an end to the 85 year old Yugoslav state. * February 15 – Millions of people worldwide take part in massive anti-war protests before the United States and its allies invade Iraq. * February 20 – The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island kills 100 people and injures 230. * February 26 – The War in Darfur begins after rebel groups rise up against the Sudanese government. * February 27 – Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavšić is sentenced by the U.N. ICTY to 11 years in prison for war crimes committed during the Bosnian War. March * March 8 – Malta approves joining the European Union in a referendum. * March 12 ** Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić is assassinated in Belgrade by a sniper. ** The World Health Organization issues a global alert on severe acute respiratory syndrome when it spreads to Hong Kong and Vietnam after originating in China. * March 20 – The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces. * March 23 – Slovenia approves joining the European Union and NATO in a referendum. April * April 9 – Iraq War: U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. * April 12 – Hungary approves joining the European Union in a referendum. * April 14 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy. * April 29 – The United States announces the withdrawal of troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and the redeployment of some at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. May * May 1 – U.S President George W. Bush gives a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq War. * May 11 ** Benvenuto Cellini's Cellini Salt Cellar table sculpture is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. ** Lithuania approves joining the European Union in a referendum. * May 12 – In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over 30 people are killed in multiple bombings at a housing compound, mostly foreign expatriates. * May 17 – Slovakia approves joining the European Union in a referendum. * May 19 – Insurgency in Aceh: The Indonesian military begins a massive military operation in Aceh against Free Aceh Movement separatists. * May 21 – A 6.8 magnitude earthquake strikes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). The shock generated a destructive tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea and left over a thousand people dead and 7,000 more injured. * May 23 – Dewey, the first deer cloned by scientists at Texas A&M University, is born. * May 28 – Prometea, the first horse cloned by Italian scientists, is born. June * June 8 – Poland approves joining the European Union in a referendum. * June 14 – The Czech Republic approves joining the European Union in a referendum. * June 26 – The Supreme Court of the United States, in a landmark ruling, strikes down sodomy laws and rules them to be unconstitutional, effectively legalizing homosexual sodomy nationwide. * June 30 – Warring parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sign a peace accord, bringing an end to the Second Congo War, which left millions dead. July * July 1 – 500,000 people in Hong Kong march to protest Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which controversially redefines treason. * July 5 – Severe acute respiratory syndrome is declared to be contained by the World Health Organization. * July 6 – The 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message Cosmic Call 2 to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri, HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris, that will arrive at these stars in 2036, 2040, May 2044, September 2044 and 2049 respectively. * July 8 – Sudan Airways Flight 139, with 117 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a 2-year-old child. * July 18 – The Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution. * July 22 – Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed by the U.S. military in a shootout at a house in Mosul. * July 24 – The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, led by Australia, begins after ethnic violence engulfs the island country. August * August 11 ** The Second Liberian Civil War comes to end after President Charles Taylor resigns and flees the country. ** NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. * August 25 – The Spitzer Space Telescope is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. * August 27 ** Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 60,000 years. ** The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. September , November 13, 2003.]] * September 3 – The Hubble Space Telescope starts the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, making 800 exposures, until January 16, 2004. * September 4 – Europe's busiest shopping centre, the Bull Ring in Birmingham, is officially opened. * September 14 – Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum. Estonia’s Accession to the EU |website=elik.nlib.ee|access-date=2016-07-02}} * September 15 – ELN rebels kidnap eight foreign tourists at Ciudad Perdida, Colombia, being freed 100 days later following negotiations with the Colombian government. * September 20 – Latvia approves joining the European Union in a referendum. * September 27 – SMART-1, a European Space Agency satellite and Europe's first mission to the moon, is launched. October * October 5 – Israeli warplanes strike alleged Islamic jihad bases inside Syrian territory, the first Israeli attack on the country since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. * October 15 – China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned spaceflight. * October 24 – The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close. November * November 12 – A suicide bombing at an Italian military police headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, kills 17 Italian military police officers and nine Iraqi civilians. * November 18 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declares in a landmark ruling that only opposite-sex couples having the right to marry is unconstitutional, paving the way for Massachusetts to become the first U.S. State to legalize same-sex marriage. * November 23 – Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze resigns after widespread protests engulf the country following a disputed parliamentary election. December * December 13 – Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in the small town of Ad-Dawr by the U.S. Army. * December 19 – Libya agrees to eliminate all of its materials, equipment, and programs aimed at producing weapons of mass destruction. * December 23 – The World Tourism Organization becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations. * December 26 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing tens of thousands of people. Births * January 6 – MattyBRaps, American rapper * August 18 – Max Charles, American child actor * August 20 – Prince Gabriel of Belgium * August 28 – Quvenzhané Wallis, American child actress * November 8 – Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie, Countess of Wessex * December 7 – Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, daughter of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Queen Maxima Deaths January ]] * January 11 – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925) * January 12 ** Leopoldo Galtieri, 44th President of Argentina (b. 1926) ** Maurice Gibb, Australian musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949) * January 17 – Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926) * January 23 – Nell Carter, American singer and actress (b. 1948) * January 24 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b. 1921) * January 26 ** Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (b. 1942) ** Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian (b. 1914) * January 27 – Henryk Jabłoński, 5th President of the Polish People's Republic (b. 1909) ]] February ]] * February 1 ** Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut (b. 1959) ** David M. Brown, American astronaut (b. 1956) ** Kalpana Chawla, American astronaut (b. 1962) ** Laurel Clark, American astronaut (b. 1961) ** Rick Husband, American astronaut (b. 1957) ** William McCool, American astronaut (b. 1961) ** Ilan Ramon, Israeli fighter pilot and astronaut (b. 1954) * February 2 – Lou Harrison, American composer (b. 1917) * February 10 – Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (b. 1958) * February 20 – Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and writer (b. 1907) * February 27 ** Fred Rogers, American children's television host (b. 1928) ** Wolfgang Larrazábal, President of Venezuela (b. 1911) * February 28 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, 45th President of El Salvador (b. 1917) March ]] * March 2 – Hank Ballard, American musician (b. 1927) * March 9 – Bernard Dowiyogo, 2nd President of Nauru (b. 1946) * March 12 ** Zoran Đinđić, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952) ** Howard Fast, American novelist (b. 1914) * March 22 – Milton George Henschel, American Jehovah's Witnesses leader (b. 1920) * March 26 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician (b. 1927) * March 29 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (b. 1956) * March 30 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952) April ]] * April 1 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor (b. 1956) * April 2 – Edwin Starr, American soul singer (b. 1942) * April 9 – Jorge Oteiza, Spanish painter (b. 1908) * April 17 – Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (b. 1930) * April 20 ** Bernard Katz, German-British biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911) ** Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976) * April 21 – Nina Simone, American singer (b. 1933) May ]] * May 11 – Noel Redding, English musician (b. 1946) * May 12 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933) * May 14 ** Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912) ** Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919) * May 15 ** June Carter Cash, American singer (b. 1929) ** Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (b. 1924) * May 24 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (b. 1910) * May 27 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925) * May 28 ** Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917) ** Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912) June ]] ]] * June 10 ** Donald Regan, American Treasury Secretary (b. 1918) ** Bernard Williams, English philosopher (b. 1929) * June 12 – Gregory Peck, American actor (b. 1916) * June 15 ** Hume Cronyn, Canadian actor (b. 1911) ** Kaiser Matanzima, 1st President of Transkei (b. 1915) * June 21 – Leon Uris, American writer (b. 1924) * June 22 – Vasil Bykaŭ, Belarusian novelist (b. 1924) * June 26 ** Denis Thatcher, British businessman, husband of Margaret Thatcher (b. 1915) ** Strom Thurmond, American politician (b. 1902) ** Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1975) * June 29 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (b. 1907) * June 30 – Buddy Hackett, American comedian and actor (b. 1924) July ]] ]] * July 1 ** Herbie Mann, American jazz flautist (b. 1930) ** Nǃxau ǂToma, Namibian actor (b. 1944) * July 4 – Barry White, American singer (b. 1944) * July 6 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor (b. 1908) * July 12 – Benny Carter, American musician (b. 1907) * July 13 – Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1907) * July 15 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean writer (b. 1953) * July 16 ** Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (b. 1925) ** Carol Shields, American-Canadian writer (b. 1935) * July 17 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914) * July 22 ** Uday Hussein, Iraqi paramilitary leader, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1964) ** Qusay Hussein, Iraqi politician, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1966) * July 25 – John Schlesinger, English film director (b. 1926) * July 27 – Bob Hope, English-American comedian and actor (b. 1903) * July 30 – Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923) August ]] * August 1 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962) * August 4 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916) * August 9 – Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (b. 1946) * August 11 – Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923) * August 14 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929) * August 16 – Idi Amin, 3rd President of Uganda (b. 1923–28) * August 19 ** Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948) ** Carlos Roberto Reina, 60th President of Honduras (b. 1926) * August 29 – Vladimír Vašíček, Czech painter (b. 1919) * August 30 – Charles Bronson, American actor (b. 1921) September ]] ]] * September 7 – Warren Zevon, American singer (b. 1947) * September 8 – Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (b. 1902) * September 9 – Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist (b. 1908) * September 11 ** Anna Lindh, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1957) ** John Ritter, American actor (b. 1948) * September 12 – Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1932) * September 24 – Edward Said, Palestinian-American literary critic (b. 1935) * September 25 – Franco Modigliani, Italian-American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918) * September 26 ** Robert Palmer, English singer (b. 1949) ** Shawn Lane, American musician (b. 1963) * September 27 – Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1925) * September 28 ** Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b. 1927) ** Elia Kazan, Greek-American director (b. 1909) * September 30 – Robert Kardashian, Armenian-American attorney and businessman (b. 1944) October ]] ]] * October 2 – Otto Günsche, German adjutant of Adolf Hitler (b. 1917) * October 3 – William Steig, American cartoonist (b. 1907) * October 5 ** Timothy Treadwell, American environmentalist and filmmaker (b. 1957) ** Neil Postman, American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (b. 1931) * October 10 – Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925) * October 13 – Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918) * October 16 ** László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926) ** Stu Hart, Canadian wrestling promoter (b. 1915) * October 19 ** Alija Izetbegović, 1st President of Bosnia and Herzegovina (b. 1925) ** Michael Hegstrand American wrestler (b. 1957) * October 20 – Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918) * October 21 – Elliott Smith, American musician (b. 1969) * October 23 – Soong Mei-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1897) * October 24 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (b. 1925) * October 27 – Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937) * October 29 ** Hal Clement, American writer (b. 1922) ** Franco Corelli, Italian opera tenor (b. 1921) November ]] * November 6 ** Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (b. 1919) ** Mike Lockwood, American wrestler (b. 1971) * November 9 – Art Carney, American actor (b. 1918) * November 10 – Canaan Banana, 1st President of Zimbabwe (b. 1936) * November 12 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976) * November 18 – Michael Kamen, American composer (b. 1948) * November 20 – David Dacko, 1st President of the Central African Republic (b. 1930) * November 24 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player (b. 1921) * November 30 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1905) December ]] * December 3 – David Hemmings, English actor (b. 1941) * December 6 ** Hans Hotter, German opera and Lieder bass-baritone singer (b. 1909) ** Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, 30th President of Guatemala (b. 1918) * December 8 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1919) * December 11 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b. 1927) * December 12 – Heydar Aliyev, 3rd President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923) * December 14 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (b. 1925) * December 19 – Hope Lange, American actress (b. 1933) * December 27 – Alan Bates, English actor (b. 1934) * December 30 – Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (b. 1963) Nobel Prize winners * Chemistry – Peter Agre, Roderick MacKinnon * Economics – Robert F. Engle, Clive W. J. Granger * Literature – John Maxwell Coetzee * Peace – Shirin Ebadi * Physics – Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, Anthony James Leggett * Physiology or Medicine – Paul Lauterbur, Peter Mansfield In fiction References External links * 2003 Year in Review – comprehensive listing of 2003 reviews and lists * 2003 Year-End Google Zeitgeist – Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2003 Category:2003